HARARE, Mar.19 (NewsDayLive)- Top lawyer Wilson Manase failed to appear in court on Wednesday, which was the second time inside a week, to answer to fraud charges involving US$3 million.
Magistrate Clever Tsikwa postponed the matter to April 17, and advised Manase's alleged co-accused Marshal Shadaya that the case was being indicted to the High Court for bail consideration.
Shadaya was advised of the new development on Wednesday afternoon when he appeared in court alone amid reports that his co-accused is on the run.
This is the second time that Manase has skipped court, raising fears that he is undermining the authority of the lower court.
However, members of the Police Commercial Crimes Division (CID CCD) overshadowed the case after they arrested the complainant, Langton Nyatsambo, for a yet to be known offence.
Nyatsambo was whisked away by the CCD officers just after leaving the court gallery.
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Allegations are that after the death of Nyatsambo's wife Fiona Dambudzo on February 22, 2009, Manase and Shadaya conspired to defraud the complainant by creating and submitting to the High Court false documents, including a fake will, divorce order, marriage and death certificates.
The documents allegedly falsely indicated that Fiona was single at the time of her death.
According to the allegations, Mutandwa Shadaya, who had access to information relating to the couple, connived with Manase who then acted as the executor of Fiona's estate and presented the fabricated documents to the Master of the High Court to facilitate the fraudulent registration of the estate without Nyatsambo’s knowledge or consent.
They allegedly submitted the counterfeit documents and distribution accounts to the High Court of Zimbabwe and the Master of the High Court.
The documents, however, were found to contain discrepancies.
The will presented to the High Court was signed on October 5, 2008, while the one given to the Master of the High Court was signed a month later, on November 5, 2008.
The divorce order submitted to the Master of the High Court, which was purported to be between Nyatsambo and his late wife, indicated a divorce, which was also fabricated.
Additionally, the distribution account submitted to the Master of the High Court listed a distribution balance of US$4,978,956.98, while the amount presented to the High Court was US$2,845,958.80.
The alleged fraud came to light when Nyatsambo sought to claim his late wife’s estate and discovered that the documents filed by the accused made it appear as if he had been divorced from Fiona since 1996.
Nyatsambo checked with the High Court and he discovered that the documents in question had never been granted by the court.
He then reported the matter to the police.
